Alcohol equals Fire & Ice
by Spottedleafpaw
Summary: Nico has resorted to drinking, almost every night. Leo pesters him one night to have him tag along, and challenges his ability to hold down his alcohol. However, Leo has a deeper purpose with this outing, and Nico's surprised to find he's okay with it. Valdangelo, Leico, whatever. Oneshot based on a tumblr prompt, may turn into more if I'm persuaded. T for now.


Wrote this because I was overwhelmed with feels for this pairing, they've become by current OTP.

Nico is nineteen, Leo is twenty. I'm probably going to come back and edit this again some more later, but for now enjoy while you can.

Prompt: Imagine your OTP out drinking. Person A thinks they can handle more than they actually can even though person B warns them not to have too much. (_Person A wakes up with a horrific hangover and Person B helps them recover while trying not to laugh too hard.) I didn't add this bit, but I might later!_

* * *

Alcohol was all fire and ice.

Honestly, Nico didn't really understand how he had missed this fact for all these years. Drinking was something he was good at, something he grew up around and could stomach no problem. Hell, he was Italian for Hades' sake. He grew up with wine bottles surrounding him, and eventually life called them back into his hands when all the shit he had to deal with went down.

He resorted to drinking whenever he missed his mom. He resorted to drinking whenever he missed Bianca. He resorted to drinking whenever he wished he had a better relationship with his father. He resorted to drinking when he couldn't handle the feelings swelling in his chest every time he saw Percy and Annabeth together. But these days, he mostly resorted to drinking out of habit.

That, and it was the best way to deal with how incredibly infuriating his other demigod friends could be.

His favorites were wine, of course, and ice-cold limoncello on the easy nights. Harder nights called for grappa or straight vodka. He could handle beer quite well, too, but the Italian in him was drawn to alcohol that had grapes in it.

He became a regular at a certain pub back home in Italy; he'd shadow-travel to get there, of course, and he knew the owners well enough to be on a first name basis. They liked him so much (or pitied him) that they'd often give him a free beer or couple of shots just to pass the night.

At nineteen years old, Nico di Angelo was a professional at drinking.

He sat at the table reserved for the Children of Hades eating a meager helping of dinner that evening, itching to finish the meal and slink off back to the shadows in order to push himself into a hazy night of alcohol-induced forgetfulness once more. When he drank, he could forget all the issues plaguing his mind like locusts, he could actually feel something.

That's what he liked about drinking; the taste of the chilly liquid spilling down his throat instantly bursting into flames across his tongue and in his chest. It was cold to the touch, but burned and heated his insides impossibly warm.

_Fire and ice._

Shoving another piece of brisket into his mouth, he chewed thoughtfully as he watched some of the other campers eat. Things had progressed at Camp Half-Blood enough to where sitting at the tables by Cabin wasn't mandatory, per se, but the campers did it out of respect most of the time, if at all. Nico was really the only one who resolutely adhered to the division of the tables, simply because he liked his isolation.

He didn't want to sit by Percy and Annabeth, acting all perfect and couple-y while he tried to choke down food. He didn't want to see her run her fingers through his hair, or him lean in to kiss her on the cheek with his mouth still full of food...

And he thought he was over it. Over him.

"You really gotta stop this shit, di Angelo. _Mamma mia_, you've got it bad!"

Nico's fierce eyes snapped towards the cheery tan features of Leo Valdez, who plopped himself across from Nico and effectively blocked his view of the Athena table where the current object of his musings was eating obliviously.

"... Leave it, Valdez."

Leo grinned at him and reached over to steal a piece of more charred brisket from Nico's plate, eliciting another scowl from the Italian boy.

"Sorry, I love teasing you. I was thinking," Leo began, mouth slightly full of food as he spoke, "we should hang out tonight. I mean, I know you always sneak out after meals and go off somewhere and come back shitfaced at some ungodly hour of the morning, so how's about I tag along this time?"

Nico blinked at the other boy, eyes widening enough for Leo to assess that he had in fact struck something in the younger male.

"Who told you?" was Nico's first reaction.

"Piper."

Nico stabbed at a piece of brisket rather fiercely, glowering.

"She helped me ONE time, and she goes off and tells everyone when I told her not to..." he muttered.

"Nah, don't blame her, I kinda forced it out of her. So you done yet? I'm a pro at drinking and want to show you up." Leo was getting way into this idea, and Nico still wasn't even sure how to handle it all.

"Firstly, why in the name of Hades would I want to get drunk with YOU? You tease me constantly, act like a little shit all the time, think I'm creepy, and generally don't seem to have any reason to want to spend time with me. Secondly, why would you make Piper tell you about what I get up to? It's my business, isn't it? And finally... I could drink you under the table in ten minutes, I guarantee it," Nico deadpanned.

Leo followed his oddly circular arguments and questions at first, getting more and more nervous by the second as the son of Hades sharply pointed out various oddities exhibited by Leo and his behavior; in fact, he normally DID tease Nico as often as he could, if only to get him to flush or maybe lash out at him in retaliation somehow... Leo thought it unbearably adorable and sexy whenever Nico flared up, although he'd never admit it outright.

'Good gods, Leo, you're twenty years old and can't make a move on the guy you've been crushing on for years now?' he mentally reprimanded himself. 'But wait, isn't that what this little adventure is going to be about tonight, hm?' he countered.

Nico watched as Leo's face contorted and brows furrowed; he appeared to be having an inner-self battle of some kind, but Nico was still awaiting answers. He coughed rather loudly and arched a dark eyebrow.

"Hm? Oh! Well you seem the type to be cool to drink with, and I've never been to any European pubs. I'm assuming that's where you're always off drinking, yeah?" Leo began, grinning as Nico's cheeks flushed light pink at being found out so accurately. "I don't think you're creepy, I want to get to know the real you! Alcohol helps the truth come out, right?" he continued, before adding one final point. "And you saying you can beat me tonight means you've already agreed, so no way in Hell... er... are you backing out now!"

Nico sighed in defeat, setting his fork down. He and Leo never really spent much time alone together, not in the many years of knowing each other. He supposed that now was as good a time to start if any, the general consensus in his head coming to the simple "fuck it" attitude. He stood, untangling his skinny legs from the bench and starting off towards the forest. He barely registered Leo's pace behind him, not until the taller boy reached him and met his strides evenly.

"Heh, you're short." Leo was grinning again, a habit that Nico was starting to associate with a feeling alcohol usually gave him. It made his chest tingly.

"... Gods, you're annoying. I'm already regretting this" he moaned a bit before reaching a dark and shady enough patch of ground. The trees in the part of the forest he had chosen were dense and the shadows were plentiful. Without warning, he reached out and grabbed Leo's arm in order to yank him a bit closer for the process to work properly.

"Getting grabby already, hm?" Leo joked, which earned him a sharp pinch from Nico on the arm. He yelped, but then the shadows engulfed them and he instinctively moved closer to the one controlling them.

When he opened his eyes, they were standing in a cobbled street lit by dusky street lamps that blazed overhead; the shuttered windows were mostly closed, although some were cracked open in order to let the summer breeze flow through the homes. Nico let go of Leo and began walking very purposefully down the road, so Leo followed him.

"Where are we?" he asked, naturally.

"A city called Livorno, in Tuscany. There's a good pub up there" Nico replied with a jerk of his head, as if anticipating the other boy's next question. Leo followed his indication to see a sign bearing the name of "The Bad Elf Pub" hanging from a black iron rod sticking out from the side of a building. A red awning jutted out underneath, also bearing the locale's name; the sign featured a mischievous looking elf clad in green and holding a large glass of beer. Leo caught up to Nico, then, and grabbed his shoulder.

"Did you pick this place on purpose?" he blurted out, flushing a bit. Nico raised his eyebrows again.

"Yes, I picked this place to come to tonight... Obviously?" he finished, a little confused.

"I mean, the elf thing..." Leo trailed off, realizing that Nico honestly might have just picked the pub because he liked the place and not because Leo was often likened to an elf. Nope, the connection was just in his head. Blushing a bit darker, Leo mumbled something about forgetting it before Nico shrugged and entered the pub.

There were a few people already there, since due to the time difference it was rather late at night/early in the morning in Italy while it was late afternoon/early evening back at Camp Half-Blood. Some waved at Nico, others exclaimed greetings at him in Italian when he came in; Nico simply nodded at them before pulling up a barstool and sitting on it.

"_Il solito_" he said to the bartender, who also had come by to greet him. Leo pulled himself into the stool next to Nico, smiling at the man who started by grabbing a large beer glass and filling it up with some specific looking brew for his regular customer.

"_Ah, chi è questo? Il tuo ragazzo, finalmente? Quello che nomini sempre, immagino!_" the bartender spoke in rapid Italian, and Leo caught a tone of teasing in the man's voice. It was Nico's turn to blush, and he waved off whatever comments the man was saying in favor of taking his beer.

"_Anche per lui, via,_" he commented, gesturing to Leo who was still lost. The bartender nodded, and strangely gave Nico and Leo a shifty grin as he prepared a second glass of beer. Nico hadn't waited for Leo to get his and was already a quarter done with his glass.

"Hey, wait up dude! We didn't even toast to anything!" Leo protested, getting his beer and raising the glass in anticipation.

"What would we even toast to?" Nico said, sounding almost skeptical.

"How about... To our first date?" Leo teased; inside his heart was pounding as he felt the words leave his lips. Nico rolled his eyes, not taking the comment too seriously.

"Hurry and come up with something realistic or I'll keep drinking and leave you there," Nico drily commented, inching the glass closer to his lips again. Leo sputtered.

"Dammit, Nico! Fine, to our first night out, happy?" he amended. "First drinking night in a foreign country, first time you'll get your ass handed to you, first time for everything?" he fumbled, searching for anything that would make it all seem less awkward. Nico rolled his eyes but clinked his glass Leo's briefly before putting it to his lips again. He downed another large gulp of it, and was surprised to see Leo chug about half the beer after their toast. Maybe he was right about being able to handle his alcohol...

Nico sent him another look before picking his glass back up and chugging the rest of his beer, waving over another round of them from the bartender. Leo grinned, accepting the silent challenge before finishing his own beer. He wasn't kidding when he said he knew how to drink, but he had never tasted beer this... rich before.

"Holy Hephaestus, what's in this beer?" he slurred a bit after his second one.

"Wheat," Nico began flatly, although his eyes twinkled. "And cognac," he finished with a small grin that caused Leo's heart to stall a bit.

"Seriously? What's the proof on this stuff?" he questioned again, yet still drinking the third one placed in front of him.

"I don't know how this 'proof' shit of you Americans works, but it's 10% alcohol. Can't do anything but the metric system either..." Nico grumbled the last part, sipping his own third beer lost in thought. Leo was impressed by the high quality of this beer, and while at the same time he knew that it would definitely be his undoing this evening, he was happy Nico was there with him to coach him through it all.

"What's next? I wanna try all of it!" he exclaimed, slamming a now empty glass down next to the other two. Nico arched his eyebrows; he was beginning to feel that tingling in his limbs, that warmth spreading through his cold system telling him that alcohol was percolating through his body.

He ordered them some shots then, knowing full well that he'd probably be dragging Leo back home after this evening but the alcohol was telling him to be okay with it. Leo looked so eager and pleased to be out, with him of all people, drinking and laughing and _warm_.

Nico flushed again, downing a shot of vodka and chasing it with pear juice quickly in order to hide it. Leo looked radiant, that's what it was. Leo grinned over at him again and copied him, licking his lips after the pear juice was gone thoughtfully.

"That was really fucking tasty. Sticky and sweet" he said, running his tongue over his lower lip a bit. Nico had to remember how to breathe; Leo was looking more and more alluring by the second, and he didn't know what to do with himself.

Leo on the other hand was buzzing, nerves singing, but mind halting every advance and attempt his body might make at jumping Nico then and there. They had gotten up and shakily moved over to a booth rather than at the bar at this point; it was semi-circular, so they sat slightly across from one another and slightly next to one another.

"So, what'd that guy say to you when you came in? I don't speak Italian!" Leo blurted out, stirring the straw of his new mixed drink so that the ice clinked in the cup. Nico had been constantly ordering them drinks all night, as if he feared something horrible would happen if they even had a moment where they ran dry.

At this question, Nico buried his lips into his beer to avoid answering for a moment; when he had to come up for air, however, Leo burst into laughter and wobbled a bit in place, staring.

"Wha... What's funny?" Nico asked, alarmed. Leo snickered for a few moments more before answering.

"You've got beer foam on your face... Looks like... Cream..." he gasped out. Nico in fact had some foamy beer on his nose and in a sort of messy mustache along his pale features. He started, turning red and about to wipe it off on the back of his sleeve but Leo was too quick for him. He restrained his hand before giving him a suggestive look.

"Y'know what normally happens to couples when one gets cream on their face" he snickered, and Nico turned dark pink, struggling to free his arm.

"We are not a couple, and you are not going to do - ugh!"

Leo had leaned forward and darted his tongue out in order to lick the foam from Nico's nose, some coming off of his upper lip too with the same swipe. Leo sat back in the booth, grinning like an idiot and licking his lips.

"Goddammit, Valdez, you dumbass!" Nico glowered, wiping his face furiously with a napkin and then again on his sleeve. Leo simply smirked and took another sip of his drink; he had been right, alcohol really does loosen people up.

"Now I refuse to tell you what he said, and I'm gonna make you drink more for that." Nico's statement was met with fierce eyes accepting the challenge, and more shots were poured down his throat as the night wore on.

Eventually, even Nico reached a stopping point. They were both quite drunk, to the point where Nico himself would be cracking frequent smiles and his dry sense of humor would surface constantly, while Leo was downright obnoxious and somewhat touchy with his companion. With that much alcohol coursing through his body, Nico didn't mind Leo's warm arm draped across his shoulders, and he didn't register it happening at first because he was just so damn _warm_ but Leo's lips were suddenly close to the crook of his neck and trailing hot skin across cold...

Nico had never felt so intense in all of his life.

He leaned his smaller form into Leo's briefly, basking in it, before Leo suddenly jerked away with wide eyes.

"Dammit."

Nico managed to get Leo to the bathroom and over the toilet in time, where Leo emptied the contents of his stomach repeatedly. As he did this, he was aware of Nico leaning next to him and running his icy fingers through his curls gently. Nico was barely registering this motion, as he was trying to drunkenly sort through the feelings he had been experiencing with Leo all evening.

"Gods, this shit's hard to keep down" Leo joked in between rounds; of course he was feeling miserable, really, but he had to save face.

"Looks like I win, in any case" Nico said softly. He wasn't even sure what he meant by that.

When Leo had finished vomiting for the most part, Nico tried to hoist the taller boy back out to the entrance so he could pay and they could leave. Leo was enjoying this immensely, and he kept snickering as Nico struggled to drag and carry him towards their destination.

"Hehe, you're so short. It's fucking cute," he'd taunt, and Nico would sputter a bit but have to ignore it in favor of regular breathing.

"_Buona notte, fate i bravi eh_!" the bartender said, winking at Nico who blushed bright red before dragging his companion out and back into the night. Well, morning now as the sun would begin rising soon. Nico hurried the both of them over to some shadows behind an old building, Leo draped all over him and using this excuse to touch as much of the younger as he could get away with.

Back in Camp Half-Blood, Nico was thankful he managed to get them there in the first place and that much closer to the cabin lineup than from where they had departed from. Having to drag Leo back up to the main camp area all the way from the forest would have been a real pain in the ass.

"Niiiico!" Leo began teasing, trying to get a good grip on Nico's shoulders as they walked towards the cabins. "I can't sleep in my cabin tonight. I gotta sleep with you, shortie!"

Nico nearly dropped him right there, heart still flowing with drink and senses overwhelmed by all sorts of confusing thoughts.

"Um, why is that?" he managed, exasperated but also concealing a large flush by looking off towards the moon.

"Cus if I go in there I'll wake everybody up and they'll yell at me for being drunk. Head counselor can't be drunk. I gotta have a sleepover with you!" Leo finished, and Nico groaned when he realized that the argument was fairly sound. He got him this drunk, he could have cut him off at any time. He shouldered his responsibility (literally) and dragged him towards the Hades cabin.

Once inside, he dumped Leo on his bed and stretched, his back a bit sore from the slouching he had to do in order to drag Leo back and forth. Plus, the shadow travel wore him out, especially when inebriated. What he didn't expect was for Leo's warm arms to suddenly reach out and encircle his waist from the bed while a leg stuck out and knocked his own out from under him; he toppled down onto the bed, and on top of Leo.

"C'mere..." the older of the two murmured, pulling Nico into a more comfortable position before he could protest. The next thing he knew, lips were on his own and he was gasping at the fire contrasting with his own ice, skin and tongues and tentative rough grabbing hands everywhere. He moaned into Leo's mouth, feeling vulnerable and wanted at the same time.

Leo knew all too well that his confidence was only boosted by the drink in his body, but he couldn't have cared any less as he pressed himself into Nico and claimed those lips as his own. He broke their kiss in order to suck a mark into the pristine snowy skin of Nico's neck and smiled a bit as the moan he elicited was sweeter than anything he'd ever heard.

Nico was falling into this feeling, letting himself go, letting himself be with Leo and everything was fire and ice just as it should be; he knew he'd feel differently in the morning, but if Leo still wanted him then he'd still be there to accept and give as much as he could. Nico was still broken, still hurt, but Leo the Repair Boy was there to fix him. That he was beginning to understand, just as easily as he realized the perfect balance between fire and ice in alcohol.

Fire and ice, merged into one. Leo and Nico, tangled into one another.

* * *

**Translations**

Il solito: The usual

Ah, chi è questo? Il tuo ragazzo, finalmente? Quello che nomini sempre, immagino!: Ah, who's this? Your boyfriend, finally? The one you mention always, I'm guessing!

Anche per lui, via: For him too, go on.

Buona notte, fate i bravi eh!: Good night, be good eh!

_Leave me a comment, tell me what you thought! :)_


End file.
